News

July 1, 2007 - Asylum-Pictures Web site is launched !
This web site has been a long time coming but anything worth having is worth waiting on. I’d like to welcome everyone into my mind and share my thoughts and feelings about my own work and others I love and respect. This site is a work in progress and I will be adding more content in the coming months. So have a look around, send me a message, and check back soon to see what’s new and exciting. Thanks for visiting, Cheers! Michael Abbott

June 15, 2007 - Logan 5 and the Runners at the Pill
Asylum Pictures was there again to catch this hot Boston band in action. I brought a couple of camera’s along to record the performance. Another smashing success.Check them out on their MySpace page.

June 12, 2007 - Rickey Abbott turns 80 years old
Just thought I’d give a shout out to the woman who put me here in the first place. Happy Birthday Mom !!

June 1, 2007 - Film Baby announces a partnership with Super D, Netflix and Amazon
This exciting news will give independent film makers like myself an amazing range of places to distribute our work. Soon you will be able to buy, rent and/or download Four O’Clock through these outlets.More information to follow.

May 21, 2007 - Four O’Clock Trailer
After my computer’s power supply died due to a blackout. I had to send it away to the repair shop for a few weeks not knowing if the trailer I had been working on was safe or not. All went well and I finally finished the trailer for Four O’Clock, it can be viewed on the Work page.

April 30, 2007 - I’ll Shave Tomorrow at the Miami Cinematheque
My good friend Tommy Strangie aka Shelley Novak asked me to put together the audio/visual backdrop for his autobiographical stage show, I’ll Shave Tomorrow, incorporating still photos, music bits, and film clips. The show received a 10 minute standing ovation and was a big hit. Congradulations Tommy !

March 31, 2007 - Logan 5 and the Runners at the Lizard Lounge
Asylum Pictures was there to catch my favorite new Boston band in action. I was inspired to bring a camera with me to shoot the performance. I was very happy with the results as the gig itself was really exciting and hope to turn it in to something in the future.Stay tuned.

March 13, 2007 - Born Today - Stella Fay Murphy
Today marks the beginning of the most challenging role so far for Mindi Fay, an aspiring actress and hilarious stand up comedienne who I met through her co-star Marc Vos.Mindi stars as Helen in Four O’Clock. Congradulations to Momma Mindi and Papa Michael !

February 19, 2007 - Casting for Anesthesia
I had dinner with Michael Z Keamey to pitch him my new film and ask him to play the lead character, George Cornell, and he accepted. Also on board are Geoffrey Davis as the Doctor, Marc Beaulieu as the mysterious man at the motel and despite the challenges of motherhood, Mindi Fay has agreed to play a small role as Nurse Nancy. The final cast is still to be worked out as I have a few major characters yet to be cast.

February 1-4, 2007 - Noir City, San Francisco
I had the pleasure of attending the final week of the annual Film Noir festival that is held in San Francisco known as Noir City. The festival was the dream child of my old pal, author and the “Czar of Noir”, Eddie Muller. I had the pleasure of working with Eddie to create a visual counterpart to his book tours for his amazing books on the subject, Dark City : The Lost World of Film Noir and Dark City Dames. At this year’s festival I was in heaven for two nights in particular focused on my favorite Noir related icons, Cinematographer John Alton and the Femme Fatale of them all, actress Joan Crawford. If you are a fan of Noir, this is the festival to attend. For more info on Eddie check out the links page.

January 15, 2007 - Pre-Production begins on Anesthesia
Today began pre production work for Asylum’s next project entitled Anesthesia. An original mystery film about a man who may or may not have witnessed a crime being committed right next door.I’ve been busy as a beaver writing,sketching,casting, location hunting, and shooting test footage for a production that should takes us into 2008. Stay tuned for more information.

January 8, 2007 - David Bowie turns 60 years old
What a milestone. David Bowie is an artist I respect and love because he is constantly seeking out new ways to present his work and challenging me along the way. I can’t wait to see what he does next.

Dec 6, 2006 - Four O’Clock - First Look
Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Asylum holds a private screening at the Coolidge Corner Cinema for cast, crew, and selected guests.It was wonderful to have the full cinema experience and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Stay tuned for upcoming showings.

Nov 15, 2006 - Four O’ Clock - DVD release
The digital master has been sent away to Diskmakers so they can do, that voodoo, that they do, so well.
Drumroll please! The film is available for purchase on the Shop page.

Oct 21, 2006 - Four O’ Clock completed and ready for it’s Close-Up
The final edit of Four O’Clock is complete and ready to meet the world.We now move into the DVD and
Premiere stage. Stay tuned for more info on the Premiere and also you’ll be able to purchase the film
through this website.

September 13, 2006 - Four O’Clock - Soundtrack complete
The final mixes for the soundtrack to Four O’Clock are complete. Today marked our final session and we are very pleased with the results. We have been writing and recording over the last six months non stop as we prepare for the final edit. I’d like to thank Marc “M1” Beaulieu and Geoffrey Davis for all their input and hard work in getting this completed.

April 7, 2006 - Final editing phase for Four O’Clock
After moving from a rough cut stage to the final stretch. I felt I needed another editor to help me into the final stage. I had been working on the soundtrack, poster art, and generally wearing all the hats but sometimes there is only so much time in the day and things need to be out sourced. I found a kindred spirit in one Mike Amato, a film maker in his own right who runs a company called JoDom Pictures. After viewing his excellent mystery films, After Midnight and A House Divided, I decided to hire Mike to assist me with the final phase of Four O’Clock. More on Mike and Jodom Pictures see the links page.

September 2005 - March, 2006 - Four O’Clock - Post Production continues
After my return from Montreal I spent the next few months learning Final Cut Pro so I could do the final edit in this program. Learning by doing has always been a good way to operate for me. The bulk of the film was put together during these months as well as the sound effects and the foley bits.

August 24-27, 2005 - Four O’Clock - Post Production Begins
Spent a few days at Behemoth Media in Montreal to start post production work on Four O’Clock.After putting together a complete rough cut it was time to start work on what would become the final cut.I spent my days in Montreal digitizing the film, working out specific sequences and laying the ground work for the months ahead.To learn more about Behemoth Media see Links page.

July 21, 2005 - Four O’Clock - Final shooting day
Today marked the final day of shooting on Four O’Clock. Michael Z Keamey and I met to finish off the scenes in the “backroom” of the clock shop. Other than a prop reshoot and odds and ends these would be the final principal scenes shot for the film.

June-July, 2005 - Four O’Clock - Shooting continues
Pretty much every weekend during these two months we were busy shooting scenes for the film. We shot in Cambridge, Dedham, and Boston.This year went on record as the hottest ever! I can only praise my actor’s for there were many days I didn’t think we were going to get what we were looking for but the professionalism just came through and these people gave there all despite the 90 plus temperatures.

May 22, 2005 - Four O’Clock - Shooting begins & pressing the flesh
Shooting began today in Dedham with all actors in attendance. We shot most of the day in the basement of a house I was using as a main set.A very productive day all around and the wonderful thing about shooting digital is you pretty much know what you have at the end of the day, no waiting for things to come back from the lab only to realize that something wasn’t captured or was too dark.We also had to capture at least one of the performances on that day for the actor playing the Doctor, Michael Lopez, was spending his last weekend in Boston before moving to NYC to continue his acting career.

After completing the shoot about half of us headed over to see one of my heroes, actress Mink Stole, in a play at the ICA. After the show we got to have an audience with Mink herself. What a treat and what an omen of sorts. I told her we just came from Day one of the shooting on my first major film project and how I was inspired to do the whole DIY thing by John Waters, who Mink has worked with many times. We discussed Pink Flamingos, my all time fave Female Trouble, and the newest film, A Dirty Shame.She signed a glossy pic from the film for me and posed for pics. What a special day all around.See Gallery

May 28, 2005 - Michael Z Keamey - Bodyworks opens
Today marked the opening of Michael Z Keamey’s one man show, Bodyworks at Theatre Machine. I was in attendance for many of the performances for I was there to also assist in the filming of said performances for a DVD that was being done by Behemoth Media in Montreal. Several of the shows were filmed and then worked into one complete piece. It was an amazing show and at this point I was so lucky to have Michael agree to play the lead in my film, Four O’Clock.

February 17, 2005 - Darlene shot in Everett
That mysterious woman known only as Darlene was filmed and carried live via satellite to present the “Your career is over” statuette at the prestigious Shelley Novak Awards held annually in Miami Beach. Asylum was there working the camera while Desi and Marc Vos from Design of Boston Salon’s team of stylists created a look and feel to match the amazing energy that can only be, Darlene. Visit Darlene on MySpace and Design of Boston can be found on the Links page.

January 2005 - Four O’Clock - Pre Production begins
With the creation of Digital video it has finally become a reality for many frustrated artists like myself who, due to affordability, put some art forms right off the table.Beginning this month I will be embarking on my first short mystery film all to be shot and edited in DV. I have wanted to adapt this Cornell Woolrich story since I was in my late teens and am very excited to have the tools to do it. This is going to be amazing ride for I get to create in a different artform and I can learn tons of new stuff along the way.

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